The RCS Hospitality Group Blog for Private Club Consulting

Why Do People Quit Their Jobs and How to Make Them Stay

The struggle to hire and maintain top-level talent is an industry-wide concern—low unemployment and high turnover is leading to positions going unfilled and managers struggling to accomplish more with less—all while keeping the talent they have and recruiting to fill positions they need. A 2018 study found that 59% of employees said they would leave their current position because of a more appealing offer, not because they are seeking an escape from their current employer. Th

Training your Staff for the Big Game

It’s finally fall, and football season is in full swing. Whether the team you root for plays on Saturday, Sunday, or at the local high school, there is no denying how much hard work the players put in day in and day out to help achieve their goal of victory each week. A very successful college football team’s mantra (and subject of a pretty motivating hype video--if you are into that sort of thing) on their drive to a history-making season was: “They don’t put championship ri

The Pandora's Box of Marijuana and Workplace Policies

It wasn’t too long ago that we discussed on this blog how cell phone policies are changing the nature of manager/employee relationships. Cell phones at work was a concern that many managers were bringing to our attention, and recently a new concern has begun keeping busy managers (specifically on the West Coast) up at night: how to create and enforce a drug policy in the wake of the legalization of marijuana. Currently, marijuana is legal for recreational use in 10 states and

Breaking down Departmental Silos within your Club

As the new year is upon us and many look to make resolutions for the coming year, I recommend instituting, or improving a Department Head Retreat. RCS Hospitality Group recently hosted a webinar on the importance and value associated with creating a strong governance culture with the correct use of board and committee orientations. In that webinar, I touched briefly on a similar orientation for senior leaders/department heads--Let's dig a little deeper into this exercise, If

Employee Training & Retention Trend Report: Part 2

Editor's Note: This is part two of a two-part series authored by RCS owner & president Whitney Reid Pennell for 2018, intended to help club managers and hospitality professionals understand the current obstacles in employee retention and training. Part One can be read here. Part One of this series on trends in employee retention and training discussed what obstacles are currently being faced by hospitality professionals and why they have occurred. Let's continue. What is bein

No Time to Train? Here’s What to Focus On

If you’ve been a regular reader of this blog, by now you know how important we at RCS think training is. We believe that training is a process of continuous learning and development—not just a week at orientation, or a day every quarter. However as many of us are also former club managers, we also know that managers these days are often being asked to do more with less, which sometimes may result in less time to dedicate to training your staff. If you ever find yourself short

3 Tips to Relieve Holiday Stress

For many in hospitality, the holiday season is the most wonderful—and challenging—time of the year. While many of your guests are enjoying time off with friends and family, you and your team are working overtime to make that time off as enjoyable and fulfilling as you can. That’s the heart of great service after all, isn’t it? To help others create wonderful memories. But the holiday season can be stressful for a number of reasons: Increased member and customer expectations,

Ready When You Are: The Power of Online Training (Part Three)

Ready When You Are: The Power of Online Training (Part Two)

Ready When You Are: The Power of Online Training (Part One)

The Top 4 Most Used Personality Tests for Management Teams

Have you ever taken a personality test? These tools are becoming more and more popular with employers as we strive to hire workers with specific qualities, rather than skills. After all, skills can be taught--but inherent qualities cannot. This is particularly important in the hospitality industry. We can train you to be a good server or hostess for example, but if you aren't naturally hospitable, friendly, and helpful, then all the skills in the world still won't be able t

A Service “Blueprint” Helps Build a Great Member Experience

Here’s a familiar sight at every golf club: Long-time members arrive, eager for a relaxing day on the course. Their tee time comes up, and after stopping in the golf shop for their cart reservation, they go out to the first tee to begin their round. They’re cheerfully greeted (by name!) by the staff, led to their cart, which is clean and charged and ready to go, and a great day of golfing begins. It’s precisely this seamless scenario that led them to join this club in the fir

Engaging with Adult Learners

As a manager, training is an inescapable part of your responsibilities, and unlike teaching wherein your audience is usually children chances are you will be working with adult learners. Engaging with adult learners has its own unique set of challenges. When you train adults, there is a greater need for mutual respect and for the learners to find the trainer credible with enough character authority to teach them something new. Once the trainer has established their skills an

10 Training Tips To Deliver the Results You Want

This article originally appeared in BoardRoom Magazine in 2015 as "What is The Point...of Training?" What is the point of training? Does everyone on your team really understand the point of training and how best to make your training effective? We train for a variety of reasons, but they are all centered on producing change and to keep our service culture strong. We train to affect change in skills (how to do something), knowledge (critical thinking or decision making) or att

Cultivating Your Service Culture

This article originally appeared in BoardRoom Magazine in 2014. Customer service means different things to everyone. Wikipedia defines customer service as “The provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.” Businessdictionary.com defines it as “All interactions between a customer and a product provider at the time of sale, and thereafter.” But what does this mean in the club business? My general rule of thumb is to first realize that very often our cu

Whitney Reid Pennell

Founder & President

Whitney Reid Pennell is the founder and president of the award-winning RCS Hospitality Group. She is a published author and widely praised seminar leader, with over 20 years of club operations management and consulting experience.

The nationally renowned full-day staff service training to boost your food and beverage operations

"Everyone in the service industry should take this course."

FIND OUT MORE

Hospitality Training Online

AFFORDABLE.

CONVENIENT.

INTERACTIVE.

CONSISTENT.

"In this age of virtual worlds, RCSU is ahead of the game."

Michael Fay, CCM, CCE

LEARN MORE

FREE MONTHLY WEBINARS

quick

informative

valuable

no strings attached

no product pushing

“The RCSU webinars are exceptional sources for actionable and helpful information! I refer to them as “power hours” because they are jam-packed with great content and full of energy and passion for the industry."

Leadership Lounge

RCS Hospitality Group : preparing you for the next generation

Why Do People Quit Their Jobs and How to Make Them Stay

Training your Staff for the Big Game

The Pandora's Box of Marijuana and Workplace Policies

Breaking down Departmental Silos within your Club

Employee Training & Retention Trend Report: Part 2

No Time to Train? Here’s What to Focus On

3 Tips to Relieve Holiday Stress

Ready When You Are: The Power of Online Training (Part Three)

Ready When You Are: The Power of Online Training (Part Two)

Ready When You Are: The Power of Online Training (Part One)

The Top 4 Most Used Personality Tests for Management Teams

A Service “Blueprint” Helps Build a Great Member Experience

Engaging with Adult Learners

10 Training Tips To Deliver the Results You Want

Cultivating Your Service Culture

Whitney Reid Pennell

Founder & President

Hospitality Training Online

AFFORDABLE.

CONVENIENT.

INTERACTIVE.

CONSISTENT.

"In this age of virtual worlds, RCSU is ahead of the game."

Michael Fay, CCM, CCE

FREE MONTHLY WEBINARS

quick

informative

valuable

no strings attached

no product pushing

“The RCSU webinars are exceptional sources for actionable and helpful information! I refer to them as “power hours” because they are jam-packed with great content and full of energy and passion for the industry."

Jackie Carpenter, CCM

Private Club Advisor

Whitney Reid Pennell

Founder & President

​

​

​

Hospitality Training Online

​

AFFORDABLE.

CONVENIENT.

INTERACTIVE.

CONSISTENT.

​

​

"In this age of virtual worlds, RCSU is ahead of the game."

Michael Fay, CCM, CCE

FREE MONTHLY WEBINARS

​

​

quick

informative

valuable

no strings attached

no product pushing

​

​

“The RCSU webinars are exceptional sources for actionable and helpful information! I refer to them as “power hours” because they are jam-packed with great content and full of energy and passion for the industry."

Jackie Carpenter, CCM

Private Club Advisor